Leviticus 22

1 Yahweh also said to Moses/me,

2 “Tell Aaron and his sons to greatly respect the sacred offerings that the Israeli people bring to me; by doing that you will respect me [MTY], Yahweh.

3 “Tell them that for all future time, if any of their descendants comes near to the sacred offerings that the Israeli people dedicate to me while he is unfit to work for me, that person will no longer be allowed to work for me. I, Yahweh, [am commanding this].

4 “If any descendant of Aaron has a contagious skin disease or a discharge from his sexual organs, he is not allowed to eat any of the sacred offerings until he is cured. He will also be unfit for his work if he touches anything which has become unacceptable to me because it has touched a corpse, or if he touches anyone who as an emission of semen,

5 or if he touches anything that crawls on the ground, or if he touches any person who causes him to be unfit for his work.

6 Any priest who touches such things must bathe, and he must not touch anyone else until that evening.

7 After the sun sets, he will be permitted to eat some of the sacred offerings that are for him to eat.

8 He must not eat anything that is found dead or that has been killed by wild animals, because if he did that, he would be unfit to work for me. I, Yahweh [am commanding those things].

9 “The priests must obey my commandments in order that they will not become guilty and die as a result of (despising/not obeying) them.

10 “Anyone who is not a member of a priest’s family is not permitted to eat any of a sacred offering, and no one who is visiting the priest or whom the priest has hired is permitted to eat it.

11 But if a priest buys a slave, or if a slave is born in his house, that slave is permitted to eat such food.

12 If a priest’s daughter marries a man who is not a priest, she no longer is permitted to eat the sacred food.

13 But if a priest’s daughter who has no children becomes a widow or becomes divorced, if she returns to her father’s house to live there like she did when she was young, she may eat the same food that her father eats. But no other person is permitted to eat any of it.

14 “If anyone who is not permitted to eat a sacred offering eats it without realizing that it is sacred, he must pay the priest for the offering, and pay him an extra one-fifth of its value.

15 When the priests bring offerings to me, the sacred offerings that the Israeli people bring to them, they must not treat those offerings as though they are not sacred

16 by allowing those who are not priests to eat any of those offerings. If they did that, they would become guilty and must make a payment. I am Yahweh, the one who causes those offerings to be sacred.”

17 Yahweh also said to Moses/me,

18 “Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israeli people and tell them that I command this: ‘If any of you Israelis or foreigners who live in Israel brings to me an animal that will be completely burned [on the altar], either as a result of a solemn promise that you made to me or to be an offering that is given voluntarily,

19 it must be an animal that has no defects, in order that it will be accepted by me.

20 Do not bring any animals that have defects, because I will not accept them as an offering from you.

21 [Similarly], when someone brings from his cattle or sheep or goats an offering to maintain fellowship with me, either to fulfill a promise that he made to me or to be a voluntary offering, in order that I will accept it, it must have no defects [DOU] or blemishes.

22 Do not offer to me animals that are blind or injured or maimed/crippled, or any animal that has warts or a festering sore [DOU].

23 You may present to me to be a voluntary offering an ox or a sheep that is injured or stunted, but it will not be accepted to fulfill a promise made to me.

24 You must not offer to me animals whose testicles are bruised or crushed or torn or cut. You must not injure the testicles of any animal in your land,

25 and you must not accept such animals that are sold/given to you by a foreigner. You must not offer them to me as a sacrifice for me. Such animals will not be accepted by me, because they are deformed or have defects.’”

26 Yahweh also said to Moses/me,

27 “When a calf or lamb or goat is born, it must remain with its mother for seven days. After that, it will be acceptable as an offering to me that will be burned.

28 Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its baby on the same day.

29 “Then you sacrifice an animal to thank [me for what I have done], sacrifice it in a way that is acceptable to me.

30 The meat must be eaten on that day; do not leave any of it until the next morning. I, Yahweh, [am the one who am commanding this].

31 “Obey all my commands [DOU]. I, Yahweh, [am commanding them];

32 do not dishonor me [MTY] [by disobeying them]. You Israeli people must acknowledge that I, Yahweh, am holy, and I am the one who causes you to be holy.

33 And I am the one who brought you out of Egypt in order to show that that I, Yahweh, am [and will always be] your God.”